"Unfortunately so much commentary is self-serving or sensationalist. Pete Wargent shines through with his clear, sober & dispassionate analysis of the housing market, which is so valuable. Pete drills into the facts & unlocks the details that others gloss over in their rush to get a headline. On housing Pete is a must read, must follow - he is one of the finest property analysts in Australia" - Stephen Koukoulas, MD of Market Economics, former Senior Economics Adviser to Prime Minister Gillard.

"Pete Wargent is one of Australia's brightest financial minds - a must-follow for articulate, accurate & in-depth analysis." - David Scutt, Business Insider, leading Australian market analyst.

"I've been investing for over 40 years & read nearly every investment book ever written yet I still learned new concepts in his books. Pete Wargent is one of Australia's finest young financial commentators." - Michael Yardney, Australia's leading property expert, Amazon #1 best-selling author.

"The most knowledgeable person on Aussie real estate markets - Pete's work is great, loads of good data and charts, the most comprehensive analyst I follow in Australia. If you follow Australia, follow Pete Wargent" - Jonathan Tepper, Variant Perception, Global Macroeconomic Research, and author of the New York Times bestsellers 'End Game' and 'Code Red'.

"The level of detail in Pete's work is superlative across all of Australia's housing markets" - Grant Williams, co-founder RealVision, author of Things That Make You Go Hmmm...one of the world's most popular & widely-read financial publications.

Friday, 12 May 2017

Ugly Vita, beta splayed

Touchdown

I haven't done any Monday morning quarterbacking for at least a couple of weeks, which is remiss of me.

Following on from the themes of Vocus and Sirtex, this time Vita Group (ASX: VTG) has crashed by another 30.5 per cent following yesterday's update on trading conditions.

Shareholders have now experienced almost a 72 per cent drawdown from the 52-week high.

Some shareholders had expressed concerns that the CEO's selldown might presage a falling share price.

In March last year the CEO finally cashed in 15 million shares of her stake for a hard-earned $42 million payday (while still retaining a very substantial 39 million shares, it should be said) - and then in August another 4 million shares were disposed.

Source: ASX

A remarkable success story, the CEO had founded the group almost two decades earlier with just one solitary store.

A 70-plus per cent drawdown following key management personnel selling of shares echoes the Vocus story quite closely.